Recently, a friend and I drove into the USA to pick up a package. My friend dumped the cardboard packaging at a restaurant's dumpster in their parking lot. Next thing I know, he tells me that the owner of a restaurant left a voicemail on his cell phone (He must've traced the packaging back to the receiver, where he got my friend's cell phone number.):

Quote:

Hey, this is _____ from _____ (restaurant). You can't use my dumpster man. Call me back and we will settle this.

So... All I want to know is that if we'll be in any problems. We both reside in Canada; what effect will that have? We usually get car parts shipped to this small town, since it's cheaper for us to bring the items up ourselves. I have a feeling we're not visiting for a while

Edit: My other friend said it's illegal to use other people's dumpsters.

Originally posted by: bootymac
Recently, a friend and I drove into the USA to pick up a package. My friend dumped the cardboard packaging at a restaurant's dumpster in their parking lot. Next thing I know, he tells me that the owner of a restaurant left a voicemail on his cell phone (He must've traced the packaging back to the receiver, where he got my friend's cell phone number.):

Quote:

Hey, this is _____ from _____ (restaurant). You can't use my dumpster man. Call me back and we will settle this.

So... All I want to know is that if we'll be in any problems. We both reside in Canada; what effect will that have? We usually get car parts shipped to this small town, since it's cheaper for us to bring the items up ourselves. I have a feeling we're not visiting for a while

Edit: My other friend said it's illegal to use other people's dumpsters.

__________________
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." -Stephen Roberts

"We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made." - M. Facklam

It's pretty simple really... The restaurant pays a fee for the dumpster and pays another fee to have it dumped. Depending on their service agreement they have a regular pick up or they have it picked up when full. Either way, you don't pay anything toward those fees. It might seem like a miniscule amount of trash that you put in but in essence you are stealing from them.

Originally posted by: So
Uh...how much trash did you toss? I mean come on, w(hy)th would he care?

maybe because he is paying for it?

Come on, if it's an empty box that has been flattened out, what was the cost to him? $1 tops?

I mean, surely the owners time is worth more than he'll reasonably recoup hounding this guy.

And how on Earth does the owner know that the OP doesn't do this daily?

He's got to follow up on things.

Well, assuming that the OP doesn't actually do this daily, and I hadn't seen his name before, then I'd assume that it was one box and move on. Now, if he has a problem with people doing this, and he's trying to track down the repeat offender, then fine -- and we'll assume that the owner will say 'oh, one box? Well, please don't do it again, I have to pay for that.'

__________________
A is A | Official member of the ATOT Night Crew | ****

Free Waterfall Jr.: You can't own property, man!
Farnsworth: I can, but that's because I'm not a penniless hippie!

Originally posted by: So
Uh...how much trash did you toss? I mean come on, w(hy)th would he care?

Hmm... The box was no more than 2' wide, 3' long, and 1' high, but we flattened it all out before we threw it away.

Well it is illegal, and it's a ongoing problem. Even though it was just a small box, he probably was upset because of the principal. It's stealing (space that he paid for, for his trash, not yours!) Just apologize to the man and relax. (you must be nervous if you made a thread about it)

Originally posted by: Adica
Well it is illegal, and it's a ongoing problem. Even though it was just a small box, he probably was upset because of the principal. It's stealing (space that he paid for, for his trash, not yours!) Just apologize to the man and relax. (you must be nervous if you made a thread about it)

Haha, yeah. I was just wondering why he would get all worked up over it, but it makes sense. Some people just have more spare time than others I guess. The ironic thing is that we were thinking of just leaving the trash somewhere, but decided to be 'good'

I doubt officials will come into Canada trying to arrest my friend though

The cost to the restaurant owner could be a lot more than you think. Here, if you put trash into a dumpster that should have gone into recycling, you can be charged double the dumping fee on the entire contents of the dumpster. It is not likely, but it could amount to a couple hundred dollars.

__________________
Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.

All man's miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone. - Blaise Pascal